I'm Gonna Make You Suffer
by mazikeenpendragon
Summary: Kendra's hatred of she and Kiefer's father was even deeper than her hatred of Alexis. TW for mentions of abuse. Two to threeshot
1. Chapter 1

**I'm Gonna Make You Suffer**

**Summary: Kendra's hatred of she and Kiefer's father was even deeper than her hatred of Alexis.**

**A/N: Not quite sure how old Kendra's supposed to be so I made her three years older than Kiefer. I wanted to try to explain Kendra's actions now, so many years after what happened to her brother and to show the Kiefer that she knew and loved.**

**Two to Threeshot**

**Part One**

**Ten Years Ago:**

Kendra Bauer walked into her apartment and threw her keys into the dish by the door, dropping her gym bag and backpack uncermoniously before heading to her bedroom, stripping off her yoga pants and take top before heading into her ajoining bathroom.

She was just climbing out of the shower when her phone rang. Grabbing a towel quickly, she wrapped it around her before breezing back into her bedroom to pick it up. "Hello?" She asked, twirling the cord around a slender finger.

All she could hear was a ragged sob at first. She _knew _that voice. "Mom? What's wrong?" Dread was pooling in her stomach as her mother continued breathing, trying to calm herself.

"It's Kiefer. Honey...Kiefer was hit by a car. The doctors...they don't think he's going to make it." Her mother's voice was trembling, voice thick with tears. "Your father...he doesn't know I'm calling you. But you needed to know. You and Kiefer were always so close. He adored you."

Kendra's breath caught in her throat and she felt as if someone was choking her. She blinked back tears. "Do they know who hit him?"

"No. Honey. No. They don't. Whoever it was just...left him in the middle of the road. They never even called for help. Listen...I've got to go back in there. But I'll call you once we have more news. I love you, sweetheart."

Kendra began sliding down her bedroom wall, phone dropping from her trembling hands. Covering her face with her hands she began to sob. Her brother couldn't be dying. She'd just talked to him the other day on the phone. He'd been talking happily about his girlfriend, voice so animated and lively. She could just imagine his bright brown eyes lit up and the smile upon his handsome face. How had things changed so quickly?

Suddenly anger at her father overtook her. She hadn't seen her brother or mother in a few months because of her father's controlling ways. Of course, her mother and Kiefer had begun visiting her in secret since her father had kicked her out of his life. But the last time she'd seen her brother in person was months ago. Maybe if she'd still been there, this never would've happened to her brother. _What _was he even doing in the middle of the wrote so late at night anyway? Gritting her teeth, she stood to her feet and grabbed her suitcase from her closet and began throwing clothes into it. Her father could rot in hell for all she cared. She was going to visit her brother and hug her mother. She didn't give a damn what that piece of shit thought anymore.

* * *

She'd been on the road for a few hours when she needed to pull off to the nearest hotel, tiredness overwhelming her. She blinked back sleep from her eyes before paying the hotel worker for a room for the night, nodding along as the woman told her what time she had to bring her key back and about the continental breakfast.

By the time she'd entered her hotel room, she was exhausted but she fished her cellphone from her purse when she heard it's insistant beeping, signaling a message. She swallowed back the lump in her throat, trepidation filling her before she dialed her inbox and listened to the message she'd received.

Like before, the first thing Kendra heard was ragged breathing as her mother tried to hold back her sobs. Then finally, "Kendra, honey...call me as soon as you get this. I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Kendra's fingers were trembling as she called her mother back. She already had an idea of what this news would be. God, she was hoping that she was wrong, though. "Mom?" She cleared her throat, shutting her eyes briefly before opening them again to stare at one of the cream colored walls of the hotel room. "I'm sorry for just now calling you back. I just got your message. What's wrong?"

Her mother muffled a sob. "It's Kiefer. He passed away about an hour ago, honey. The doctors just couldn't help him. I'm so sorry, sweetheart."

Kendra was quiet for a few moments, attempting to compose herself. "Did you find out who...who did this to him?" She wondered.

"Alexis Davis. She hit him with her car." Her mother answered, anger briefly overtaking the pain and heartache of the loss of her only son.

The younger woman frowned in thought, fingers clenching into the comforter on the bed tightly. "Wait...Davis..that name sounds familiar." She said it softly that she almost didn't think her mother had heard her until the woman suddenly spoke again.

"She's Kristina Davis' mother." The older woman scoffed. "She apparently didn't see him."

"Kristina? You mean Kiefer's girlfriend? _That _Kristina?" Kendra asked in disbelief. "Does Kristina know what her bitch of a mother did?"

"Oh...honey." Her mother sighed. "Kendra, Kristina is saying that Kiefer abused her."

Frowning, Kendra mulled those words over. That wasn't something her brother would do. She _knew _Kiefer. He wasn't like their father. He was a gentle soul. Truly, the best of all four of them. He was so much like their dearly departed grandmother that Kristina's accusation had to be a lie. "That's impossible." She finally managed to say. "My brother would never hurt a fly."

"Well that little witch is saying different." Her mother replied, voice hard and cold. "People are believing it, too. It doesn't even make sense. Not to long ago, she was saying some hoodlum had abused her. Now she's changing her story?"

Kendra's breath hitched in her throat for a moment before she finally spoke. "Listen, mom, I'm at a hotel right now. I'm going to get some sleep and then I'll come and see you when I get into Port Charles. We can talk more then. You can tell daddy dearest that I'm coming. I don't give a shit what he thinks. He can't control me anymore." With that, she switched off her cellphone before she gripped one of the pillows off of the bed she was sitting on. Bringing it up to her face, she muffled her screams of hurt and anger. She screamed and screamed into it until she fell into an exhausted sleep, dreaming of her baby brother.

* * *

She arrived in Port Charles almost two days later, wearing a baggy sweatshirt, messy ponytail, and bags under her eyes. She and her mother met in a small motel parking lot where she hurried over to the older woman, immediately embracing her in a tight hug. Both of them were tearful and when they pulled back, Kendra could see matching eyebags under her mother's eyes. "Where's dad?" She asked, clearing her throat.

The woman gave a helpless shrug, hand going up to carress her neck where Kendra could see bruises in the shape of fingerprints through the concealer that had obviously been used in an attempt to cover them. "He disappeared last night." She croaked out. "I haven't seen him since."

Kendra stopped herself from asking her mom about them. Instead, she turned her attention back to her brother, asking, "Can I help you plan Kiefer's funeral?"

**Next Part: Kendra faces Kiefer's dead body and remembers her father's violence and when he disowned her.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm Gonna Make You Suffer**

**A/N: Trigger warning for mentions of abuse. **

**Part Two**

The thing about money is it could buy your innocence. Kendra could recall multiple times before her father had disowned her when she'd called the cops, pleading for their help because that cowardly man had hurt she, her mother, or Kiefer. There was a time when her brother was five and he'd accidentally broken a stupid vase. It had been ugly and all of them except their father had thought so. When dear old dad had realized what happened, he'd grabbed Kiefer by the scruff of his neck and slammed him into a wall. She'd been eight years old then and fiercly protective of her brother. Trying to defend him had resulted in two cracked ribs and a concussion. At least it hadn't been Kiefer, though. Most of the time, she'd been able to stop the beatings from happening to her baby brother. Now though, staring at his dead body, she felt guilt overwhelm her. Guilt that she hadn't been able to stop this. That she hadn't been able to pretend to be the person that her father wanted her to be. Maybe if she'd put on an act, her father wouldn't have disowned her and she'd have been able to protect her baby brother.

"Oh baby brother, I'm so sorry." She whispered softly, leaning over his prone, cold body. Her slender hand began smoothing through his brown hair.

"Kendra? Honey?" Her mother's soft voice said from behind her hand coming out to rub comforting circles into her back.

Kendra nodded before leaning in to press a gentle kiss to her brother's forehead. "Okay. I think I'm ready." Leaning into her mother, they followed the mortician up to where the coffins were.

Warren Bauer wasn't involved in these decisions, of course. The thing about the monster of she and her mother and brother's nightmares is that he didn't give a damn about his family. They were tokens to him. Trophies. It was why he despised her so much, because she wasn't the perfect daughter. He'd never loved Kiefer. All he loved was the envy he received from others for what a brilliant, handsome son he had. He loved taking credit for the accomplishments of his family. And he loved to dole out punishments if his family wasn't absolutely perfect. Kendra could still recall coming home from cheerleading practice to find her brother curled in a ball in her bed, sobbing because their father had hit him for receiving a B on his report card. It had filled her with anger when she saw the red welt on his face and she hadn't been able to stop herself from confronting her father. Of course, it had resulted in him turning his rage on her. She hadn't been able to change for gym or cheerleading practice in front of people in the locker rooms for a few weeks after that.

"Kendra? What are you thinking about?" Her mother asked of her after they'd picked out a coffin and were at a cute little Chinese restaurant the town over.

Kendra took a sip of her hot tea before setting down the cup and taking a bite of her General Tso. "I was...I was just thinking. Wishing I'd been here to protect Kiefer."

Her mother nodded. "It just isn't fair, is it? I was hoping he'd be able to escape. Maybe he could've lived like you. He wouldn't have...he wouldn't have had to deal with Warren anymore."

"I don't get it, mom. Why didn't you ever try to leave him? Why did you allow him to hurt all of us? To hurt you?" It was a question Kendra had honestly been wanting to ask for years, since she was old enough to realize other families weren't like theirs. Other families were loving, warm, and comfortable even if they weren't as rich as the Bauers.

The other woman shrugged helplessly. "I tried once. When you were a toddler and I was still pregnant with your brother. He found me. Even when I tried telling the cops, they didn't believe me."

"Do you ever regret getting involved with him?" The younger woman asked, staring down at her plate.

"Sometimes I do." She confessed. "But then I think about you and Kiefer and how lucky I am to be your mother. I just wish I could've protected you both better."

Kendra's bottom lip wobbled. "I wish you could've too."

Kendra ran into her father two days later, before Kiefer's funeral. She was at the hospital picking up valuums for her mother when she caught sight of him standing outside a hospital room, glaring in at it's occupant. She shifted her feet and began to walk, trying to pay him no mind when she felt his hand grip her wrist tightly and his cold voice near her ear.

"Well look what the cat dragged in." He said, eyes skimming over her in disgust.

She glared at him, wrenching her arm from his grip and shoving him back. "Quit trying to scare me." She snarled, face aflame in anger. "You can't do that anymore."

The man chuckled. "I was never the one causing the issues between us, Kendra. You were. Always so insolent. Not at all like your brother."

A manic laugh escaped Kendra's lips. "Kiefer only listened to you because he was scared. He knew what would happen to him if he screwed up."

His eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring before he reached out to take his daughter's wrist in a bruising grip, dragging her into the fire escape of the hospital. "I'd be quiet if I were you. You know what happens when you disrespect me."

Kendra hid her fear as she raised up her foot, kicking him straight between the legs. "You can rot in hell." She hissed before stalking away from him.

She paused outside of the hospital room she'd seen her father standing in front of, being careful that she was hidden from sigh before she peeked inside, brow furrowing as she caught sight of a petite teenage girl lying in the bed, face bruised and beaten. She held back a gasp, realizing who the girl was. She was suddenly transported back to a moment when she was fifteen and Kiefer was twelve and her father had beaten their mother within an inch of her life because she'd allowed Kendra to go on a date. She could picture her mother in that hospital bed, lying to the cops and the doctors as they asked her what had happened. She supposed that was when she really began to act out against her father's rules, sneaking out of the house, going on dates. Joining clubs and things he'd be appalled at her being involved in. Rebelling in all of these little ways before one time, she'd taken it too far and ended up disowned. Seeing this girl in this bed, she suddenly wished she'd dragged her brother with her to California where he'd have been safe from Warren Bauer's wrath. Where perhaps he'd still be alive. Where maybe his morality wouldn't have been called into question. She didn't want to believe her brother could hurt someone he supposedly loved. But she hadn't seen him every single day since she'd left home three years ago. Her hatred for their father bubbled up inside of her as she realized what he could've turned Kiefer into with all of that abuse and control. She smothered an angry cry before hurrying out of the hospital, totally forgetting her mother's pills.


End file.
